(WASHINGTON) — Documentary filmmaker Nick Quested followed the Proud Boys through Washington as members of the extremist group marched on the Capitol on Jan. 6 and clashed with police officers.
His firsthand, searing account of the riot will be a central piece of the House Jan. 6 select committee’s prime-time hearing Thursday night, which will feature both his testimony and some of the never-before-seen footage of the Proud Boys and other rioters he turned over to investigators.
ABC News has exclusively obtained some of that material, showing how a group of Trump supporters at a presidential rally transformed into an angry mob that broke into the Capitol to try to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
“I am not allowed to say what’s going to happen today because everyone’s just gonna have to watch for themselves. But it’s gonna happen,” one woman in the crowd told Quested ominously. “Something’s gonna happen one way or another.”
Quested’s material shows some of the most infamous Capitol rioters in the hours before they appeared in the halls of Congress, including Jacob Chansley, the “QAnon Shaman” later sentenced to more than three years in prison for his role in the attack.
“Freedom!” Chansley shouts, with his horned fur hat and spear on the National Mall.
Quested captured the moment just before 1 p.m. when protesters overpowered Capitol Police officers at the outer perimeter of the complex, turning over a series of bicycle racks and rushing closer to the Capitol building.
Inside the swarming crowd at the base of the Capitol, he witnessed police officers frantically pushing rioters backwards as their perimeter crumpled, and Trump supporters swinging from scaffolding, using flags as weapons and crowd surfing closer to the violence at the Capitol’s west entrance.
A member of Quested’s film crew also followed the rioters into the halls of Congress, where some marched around the House chamber looking for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., chanting, “All we want is Pelosi!” and “Nancy!”
The speaker was evacuated by her Capitol Police detail minutes before rioters marched through her office. Some of her youngest staffers locked themselves in empty rooms and sheltered under tables.
Quested himself was assaulted during the riot, as a protestor tried to grab and smash his camera.
The committee on Thursday will also hear testimony from Capitol Police officer Caroline Edwards, who was one of the first officers injured during the riot when she was thrown to the ground by rioters pushing bike racks forward and hit her head on the concrete stairs.
They also plan to feature clips of taped interviews with Trump administration officials and family members, including Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump.
The committee expects to use videos, social media posts and pictures throughout the public hearings planned for June and has retained former ABC News president James Goldston to help produce the upcoming sessions.
Along with Quested’s footage, the committee has also obtained 14,000 hours of security camera video from Capitol Police.
A spokesman for the committee declined to comment.
(NEW YORK) — Abbott and the Food and Drug Administration were alerted to a whistleblower complaint about Abbott’s Sturgis infant formula plant as far back as February 2021, ABC News has confirmed.
This complaint, filed with the U.S. Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration, alleges quality control concerns at Abbott’s formula plant in Sturgis, Michigan — a year before the company’s massive recall and shutdown in February 2022 following contamination concerns, which helped exacerbate a nationwide shortage in baby formula, according to sources familiar with the matter.
OSHA received a complaint from a whistleblower on Feb. 16, 2021, and sent a copy three days later to the FDA and Abbott, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The complaint raises further questions about when both Abbott and federal health authorities first knew about quality and contamination concerns at the Sturgis plant, and why it took so long for action to be taken.
The OSHA complaint, first reported by The Wall Street Journal, alleges problems at the Sturgis plant like faulty equipment in need of repair or upgrade and inadequate safety validation for released product.
It was filed several months before similar allegations were made in another whistleblower report, which flagged contamination concerns at the Sturgis plant in October 2021, according to sources familiar with the matter.
The allegations made in that October report include “ongoing problems” with the “integrity” of seals on powdered products, that the facility had used “questionable practices” to test whether the issues had been fixed, made efforts to evade certain oversight and override quality checks, falsified records “on a regular and ongoing basis” and allowed “questionable practices” related to the cleaning of equipment to “proliferate.”
Abbott spokesperson Scott Stoffel told ABC News an internal investigation stemming from the February 2021 OSHA complaint has “not been able to confirm the allegations.”
“We believe this to be a former employee who was dismissed due to serious violations of Abbott’s food safety policies,” the company spokesperson added, saying the employee had never raised product safety concerns while with the company — and that these complaints continue “a pattern of ever-evolving, ever-escalating allegations.”
Responding to ABC News’ request for comment, an FDA spokesperson acknowledged the shifting timeline of events leading up to the FDA’s warning and Abbott’s ultimate recall but would not comment specifically on the OSHA complaint.
“We know there have been various questions about the timeline of events leading up to the FDA’s warning and Abbott’s recall of products manufactured at their Sturgis facility,” FDA spokesperson Michael Felberbaum said, adding the FDA’s “top priority right now is addressing the dire need for infant formula in the U.S. market, and our teams are working night and day to help make that happen.”
Felberbaum noted the FDA “can and must do better or be faster, and we’ve initiated a detailed after-action review so that we can make improvements to our programs, processes, and decision-making.”
ABC was first to report that the FDA is now under audit by the Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General for how it responded leading up to Abbott’s massive recall — probing whether the agency upheld its responsibilities to “safeguard the nation’s food supply” and whether FDA regulators followed proper recall protocol once a deadly bacteria was detected inside the plant.
Abbott’s Senior Vice President for U.S. Nutrition Chris Calamari has testified under oath that the company was not aware of the October whistleblower complaint until late April 2022, when it was made public, blaming the “time lag between October and February” on the FDA’s internal issues.
Stoffel, of Abbott, said there is an “open investigation” into those October allegations that “expand upon the federal OSHA allegations” from February 2021.
Neither the FDA nor Abbott mentioned being alerted to an OSHA complaint raising product safety concerns in February 2021 during their testimony in late May of this year.
This was not the first time questions had been raised about quality control at the plant. The FDA found sanitation issues in Sturgis in September 2021, saying the facility “did not maintain a building used in the manufacture, processing, packing or holding of infant formula in a clean and sanitary condition,” according to an inspection report. And by Feb. 1, the FDA had collected samples at the plant confirming the presence of cronobacter, according to an inspection report. Abbott maintains there is no conclusive evidence that its products contributed to infants’ illness or death.
Abbott, the largest manufacturer of infant formula in the country, shuttered its Michigan plant in February 2022, following contamination concerns and a large recall of several of its brands, exacerbating a nationwide shortage of infant formula.
In early June, it officially reopened its doors and restarted production after meeting the initial requirements of an agreement with the FDA on how to reopen safely.
“Abbott takes employee concerns very seriously and we foster a culture of compliance to produce the best and highest-quality products,” Stoffel said. “We empower our employees to identify and report any issues that could compromise our product safety or quality, which comes before any other considerations.”
(NEW YORK) — With the approval process underway for young children’s COVID-19 vaccines, the White House is preparing a rollout to doctors’ offices, pharmacies and children’s hospitals across the country.
“If in fact [the Food and Drug Administration] authorizes and [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] recommends, we’re going to immediately launch a comprehensive nationwide effort to ensure that parents can get their youngest kids vaccinated, easily, and do so at locations that they know and they trust,” a senior administration official said on a call with reporters on Wednesday.
Two brands of vaccines — Pfizer and Moderna — are expected to be available as early as the week of June 21 if the review processes at the FDA and CDC find they are safe and effective for kids under 5. Both companies have said their vaccines are just that and released initial efficacy data. More information will be presented next week to the FDA and CDC.
The administration estimates that 85% of children under the age of 5 live within five miles of a potential vaccination site, another administration official said.
The government opened up orders to states on Friday and has so far received requests for around 2.3 million doses. There were five million doses available for initial orders, and another five million will be available to order soon.
Administration officials cautioned not to read into the underwhelming order numbers and said it has been common over the past two years for them to come in slowly at first.
“I wouldn’t focus on those early numbers. Our experience is that the longer the ordering stays open, the more likely the states come forward,” an official said.
“We’re not too worried or focused on that, we’ll continue to do these outreach,” the official added.
So far, states have ordered 58% of the available Pfizer doses and 34% of the available Moderna doses.
Officials said some jurisdictions had ordered only Moderna, while others ordered only Pfizer. They said they didn’t have an explanation because it was too early in the process.
But, if polling is any indication, it will be an uphill battle to convince parents to vaccinate their young kids. A recent survey from Kaiser Family Foundation found just one in five parents are eager to vaccinate their children right away.
Officials said they planned to lean into existing networks to get vaccine information out to families, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, mom blogs and PTAs, as well as groups specific to communities of color, like the League of United Latin American Citizens.
“We have learned from our previous campaigns, and one of the most important lessons that we’ve learned is that we know who people listen to when making decisions, and there are trusted people in their lives,” a senior administration official said.
“Some of them are doctors, some of them are community leaders,” the official said.
The official said the goal was twofold, both to get the vaccine to convenient places for families and to make sure they have the information they need about the vaccines.
The process to authorize vaccines for the youngest age group begins on Wednesday, when the FDA’s independent panel of advisors meet to review the data and ask questions of the vaccine companies.
Pfizer’s vaccine comes in three doses given in smaller amounts over a longer period of time, while Moderna’s is a two-dose vaccine given in slightly larger amounts over a shorter period.
If the panel approves, the FDA is expected to then authorize within a day or so.
That kicks the process over to the CDC’s group of advisers, who are expected to review the vaccine data on June 17 and 18 before voting. Then, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky can issue a final recommendation for the vaccines and doses can begin being administered.
Vaccines are expected to arrive to clinics and doctors offices the weekend after the FDA and CDC’s advisory committees meet, so long as the FDA issues its authorization for emergency use of one or both vaccines.
The White House then expects vaccines will start to be administered on the Tuesday after the long weekend of the federal holiday Juneteenth.
(WASHINGTON) — While some of their friends and loved ones are still being buried at home, both survivors and families of victims in recent mass shootings challenged lawmakers on Capitol Hill this week to reach a deal on gun reform negotiations or risk continuing a 30-year trend of inaction in the wake of tragedies from Sandy Hook to Parkland.
As Senate negotiators continue talks, the House on Wednesday evening passed a sweeping package, largely along party lines — called the “Protect Our Kids Act” — which would raise the age limit for purchasing semi-automatic rifles from 18 to 21, ban high-capacity magazines, create firearm safe storage requirements and tighten the regulation of bump stocks and “ghost guns.”
A handful of members broke ranks in the 223-204 vote, with five Republicans — Reps. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, Anthony Gonzalez of Ohio, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Chris Jacobs of New York, and Fred Upton of Michigan — supporting the package, and two Democrats — Reps. Jared Golden of Maine and Kurt Schrader of Oregon — voting no.
Notably, each Republican who crossed party lines will not be returning to Congress next term, and Schrader recently lost his Democratic primary. One Republican did not vote.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi gaveled in the vote Wednesday with a smile as her caucus cheered.
But House GOP leaders pushed back ahead of the vote, with Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., noting, “there wasn’t a conversation about banning airplanes,” after the Sept. 11 attacks — and calling for the majority to hold bipartisan talks like their Senate counterparts. Though the legislation is doomed in the upper chamber, it’s intended to put pressure on Republicans who have been hesitant to enact — or outright blocked — reform at the federal level, despite growing calls for change.
The real opportunity to change policy lies in the Senate, where a small group of bipartisan negotiators is inching closer to reaching a gun reform deal in principle.
Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., leaving a meeting with the group of roughly 11 lawmakers on Wednesday, said they were discussing “a series of concrete proposals” that he’s “hopeful in the next day will all be reduced to a framework that includes a broad range of commitments, in terms of dollar amounts and purposes.”
But questions remain around what the final deal will include — and if it will go as far as many Americans are demanding.
“Somewhere out there, a mom is hearing our testimony and thinking to herself, ‘I can’t even imagine their pain,’ not knowing that our reality will one day be hers — unless we act now,” said Kimberly Rubio, mother of Lexi Rubio, a fourth-grade student among the 19 kids and two teachers killed in Uvalde, Texas. “So, today, we stand for Lexi. And as her voice, we demand action. We seek a ban on assault rifles and high-capacity magazines.”
“You expect us to continue to just forgive and forget over and over again. And what are you doing?” Garnell Whitfield Jr., the son of Ruth Whitfield, the oldest victim of the Buffalo, New York shooting, which left 10 Black people dead, asked senators Tuesday. “My mother’s life mattered. Your actions here will tell us if, and how much, it mattered to you.”
Academy Award-winning actor Matthew McConaughey, who said he learned responsible gun ownership growing up in Uvalde, also offered a passionate plea from the White House after lobbying lawmakers on both sides of the aisle this week, saying that Americans are more united on the issue of guns, but it’s Congress that’s divided.
“Enough of the invalidation of the other side. Let’s come to the common table that represents the American people. Find a middle ground, the place where most of us Americans live anyway, especially on this issue,” McConaughey said in an emotional and lengthy speech. “Because I promise you, America — you and me, who — we are not as divided as we’re being told we are.”
The bipartisan group of senators, led by Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut and Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, is aiming to reach a compromise this week on a package that could garner enough support to pass Congress — but they’re considering measures much smaller in scope than what both victims and President Joe Biden have publicly called for.
Instead of universal background checks, supported by 89% of Americans according to an ABC News/Washington Post poll, negotiators are looking to expand background checks to look at juvenile records. Regarding red-flag laws, supported by 86% of Americans according to the same poll, laws which temporarily remove guns from the hands of individuals who are considered a danger to themselves or others, the group is considering incentivizing states to implement their own, as opposed to enacting red-flag laws at a federal level.
Funding to states for mental health resources — a measure Republicans pushed for, along with increased funding for school safety — is about 80% complete, according to Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., who is part of the talks.
Senate Democrats support the expanded versions of these measures as well as raising the age to buy assault-style weapons from 18 to 21 — but they don’t have enough Republican support to become law. Democrats need 10 Senate Republicans to join them on any legislation to meet the chamber’s 60-vote threshold, required by the filibuster rule, and allow a bill to advance for final passage.
So far, it’s not clear there is enough support even for a more modest deal.
Despite Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky expressing a willingness in private to support raising the age to buy assault-style weapons, sources told ABC News’ Congressional Correspondent Rachel Scott, the measure is a nonstarter for most Republicans.
Asked by a CNN reporter why Americans would need an AR-15, Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., said people use them in his state “to shoot prairie dogs and, you know, other types of varmints.”
Less than 24 hours later, a Uvalde pediatrician, who treated the victims of the Robb Elementary School mass shooting, described to House lawmakers the damage the gunman’s AR-15 there had on the tiny bodies.
“Two children, whose bodies had been so pulverized by the bullets fired at them, over and over again, whose flesh had been so ripped apart, that the only clue as to their identities were the blood spattered cartoon clothes still clinging to them,” said Pediatrician Dr. Roy Guerrero.
What’s next?
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has given negotiators roughly until the end of the week to come up with a framework agreement, after which it would take more time to then develop legislative language and get the requisite budget analyses.
“I’m encouraging my Democratic colleagues to keep talking, to see if Republicans will work with us to come up with something that will make a meaningful change in the lives of the American people and stop gun violence,” he said on the Senate floor Tuesday. “Making real progress is very important. Sen. Murphy has asked for space to have the talks continue, and I have given him the space.”
But not every negotiator appears on board with that swift timeline.
Lead Republican on the talks, Sen. Cornyn, told reporters on Wednesday that his “aspirational goal” would be to reach a deal “in the next couple of weeks, by the end of this work period” on June 27.
While negotiators appear to be closing in on a framework deal by Friday, one GOP aide familiar with the matter said that paper is still being exchanged by each side. It’s possible that members announce a deal in principle and then take a few more weeks to finalize language, as was seen with the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
Senate Democrats need 10 Republicans to join them in theory, but some think any agreement is going to need even broader Republican support to pass — under the thinking more in the GOP will be willing to support the measure if it has the backing of their larger conference.
If negotiators do not come to an agreement, Schumer has vowed to get every senator on the record by holding a vote on doomed-to-fail comprehensive gun reform legislation, ahead of the fall midterm elections.
(NEW YORK) — A tourist helicopter carrying six people crashed on Wednesday evening in a lava field on Hawaii’s Big Island.
Five passengers and a pilot were on a Paradise Helicopters tour over Kau, the island’s southernmost district, when the helicopter crashed at about 5:29 p.m., the company said in a statement.
Emergency responders flew two helicopters to the site of the crash to carry those aboard, two of whom were in critical condition, to Kona Community Hospital, according to KITV4, the local ABC News affiliate.
The Bell 407 aircraft was operated by K&S Helicopters, Paradise said.
“The care of our passengers, crew members, and their families is our highest priority,” Calvin Dorn of K&S Helicopters said in a statement posted to Paradise Helicopters’ website.
The company said it had completed a manifest verification, which showed six people were onboard at the time of the crash.
(WASHINGTON) — As another slate of states held their primary elections, most Americans remain critical of President Joe Biden’s handling of the inflation-plagued economy. According to a new ABC News / IPSOS poll, more than 8 in 10 Americans say that the economy is either an extremely or very important issue in determining how they will vote, a motivator likely to be reflected in which candidates advance to the general in Tuesday night’s key races.
Here are the key takeaways from the races in New Jersey, Iowa and California, which featured some of the midterm cycle’s most endangered incumbents across the political spectrum:
San Francisco district attorney defeated in recall
San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin lost his job after a nail-biter of a recall race. With 68% of the expected vote in, 60% supported his ousting. Now, the mayor will name a replacement who will serve in the role until November 2023, the end of the term.
Supporters of Boudin’s recall who pushed for this change as the rate of hate crimes against Asian-Americans spiked in 2021 raised over $7 million for their efforts. They painted Boudin as soft-on-crime — an accusation that clearly resonated.
Boudin’s recall is not only bad news for progressives — it’s also a referendum on liberal prosecutors across the country who face constituencies incised at rising levels of crime in their communities.
Iowa Democrats’ unsure future
The Iowa Democratic establishment is on the rocks. In one of the primary night’s stunning upsets, former U.S. Rep. Abby Finkenauer decisively lost to retired U.S. Navy Vice Adm. Michael Franken.
Finkenauer was painted by Washington as a rising party star, despite her reflection loss in 2020, garnering high-profile endorsements from groups like EMILY’s List. While she out fundraised Franken by a little over $1 million, voters may have been shaken by attempts from Republicans to challenge her candidacy eligibility.
Franken continues on to attempt to unseat 88-year-old Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley.
“I am forever grateful, and I will never stop fighting for the Iowa that I love,” Finkenauer said in her concession statement.
Any attempt from the left to knock Grassley off his perch will be unwieldy at best, as Grassley has both major institutional support from Washington as well as from voters in a state that continues to trend Republican.
Democrats will leap another hurdle with the House race of Rep. Cindy Axne, who faces tough re-election odds thanks to newly redrawn boundaries of her 3rd congressional district. Thanks to redistricting, Axne’s district saw an influx of more than 5,000 Republican voters, mostly rural, that are likely to be disdainful of her voting record and relationship with Biden.
Axne is a top target of the National Republican Congressional Committee and is now forced to combat a million dollars in spending on opposition ads. The Cook Political Report has Axne’s race in the general as one of 23 Democratic toss-ups.
She’ll face off with Republican former Iowa state Sen. Zach Nunn in November.
A showdown in the suburbs
New Jersey Democrat Tom Malinowski wins his primary but will have a harder time in the general election after the latest redistricting left him in the one vulnerable district when state leaders opted to draw 11 safely partisan other seats. Here, Republicans get an attempt to recapture the suburbs that they lost in 2018, which evidently lost them control of the House.
Malinowski, who represents Jersey’s 7th congressional district, told ABC News he thought such redistricting — which has played out to varying degrees in new districts nationwide, with varying levels of scrutiny and controversy — was bad for democracy.
“We’re the only ones who actually, by our votes and by our work, get to decide, get to make a difference in terms of which way the wind is blowing in America one way or another. And that is a burden. It means we have to work much harder. It’s going to cost us a lot of money. But I think it’s also a privilege,” Malinowski said.
The may-be speaker makes it through
The potential next speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy, expectedly survived his primary in California’s 23rd district, perhaps with small help from a Sunday endorsement from former President Donald Trump.
In his statement, Trump said McCarthy was instrumental in holding Biden and current House Speaker Nancy Pelosi “accountable for their catastrophic failures and dereliction of duty.”
If the Red Wave the GOP is banking on holds, McCarthy is well positioned to campaign for the speakership, a gig he’s not publicly claimed but rumored to be pining for.
So when Kane Brown told Men’s Health about his plans to become “the fittest guy in country music” back in January, he knew he had some stiff competition. But Tim says that he wouldn’t mind handing over the title to the younger superstar, according to an interview with his record label.
“He’s a lot younger than I am, so I’m sure he won’t have any problem with that,” Tim says, adding that Kane has even stoked a friendly rivalry with him in the name of upping his fitness game.
“He’s actually sent me a message a couple of times when he started hammering it pretty hard,” the singer says. “He says, ‘I’m comin’ after you, I’m comin’ after you!’”
Always one to take on a challenge, Tim says he welcomes the competition. “And I was like, ‘Come on, brother, come on,’” he details.
Tim has always maintained a demanding workout schedule, but he took things to the next level during his role as James Dutton on the Yellowstone prequel 1883, where he and the rest of the cast embarked on “cowboy camp” in order to get to know the ins and outs of pioneer life.
Keith Urban headlines Nashville’s Nissan Stadium during the city’s CMA Fest this week, an event that he’s expecting will be extra exciting this year after two years of pandemic cancellations.
“Electric, I think. Electric,” he says of the onstage experience he’s anticipating. “CMA Fest is unlike anything I’ve ever played, and I think the fact that it’s been absent for two years, I think you’re gonna feel that in the audience that night. Whole weekend, too.”
But that’s just the beginning for Keith: After his CMA Fest show, he’s jetting out to Tampa, Florida, where months of tour rehearsals will pay off with a June 17 stop on his Speed of Now Tour.
For this tour, Keith is as involved behind the scenes as he is with his role as a headliner. He’s using his lighting background to help dream up a production plan that will be truly spectacular.
“I love lighting. I love the fact that it’s an emotional support and an energy support for the song,” he says. “And I always prefer when they’re used in that way, to heighten the emotion of the energy or the drama.”
Drama is a major component of Keith’s show, he points out, such as with songs like “Tumbleweed,” his set list-opening song.
“That song is all drama: absurd, heightened, over-the-top drama,” he describes. “And so we were here till, like, 11 o’clock last night shaping all of that. Lighting cues and openings and various things. So yeah, [I’m] fairly involved.”
Head over to Keith’s website to see a full list of his upcoming Speed of Now Tour dates.
Former Guns N’ Roses drummer Matt Sorum‘s memoir, Double Talkin’ Jive: True Rock ‘n’ Roll Stories, was published last month.
In the book, the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer opens up about his dramatic and dangerous early years as a drug dealer, and recounts his many adventures with GN’R during his 1990-1997 stint with the band, as well as his work and exploits with many other well-known rock artists, including the supergroups Velvet Revolver and Kings of Chaos, The Cult, and ZZ Top‘s Billy Gibbons.
Double Talkin’ Jive also finds Sorum writing candidly about his struggles with drug and alcohol addiction, and reflecting on the pitfalls of rock stardom.
“[I]t was a wild ride through some emotional stuff,” Matt tells ABC Audio about his experience writing the book. “It was a lot of…growth in [doing] it. It was very cathartic. It gave me a really good opportunity to know that I’ve changed in a good way, thank God.”
As for his time with Guns N’ Roses, Sorum notes, “I traveled the world at the highest level, had so many amazing experiences all over the world….And to this day, I’m still recognized as the guy [from GN’R]…I’ve been out of the band [for about 25 years], but I still have that tagline, and people still respect that…I did that piece of work.”
He adds, “[The book is] a good read. I hope everyone enjoys it, just as a guy that sat up on the drum throne for a lot of cool bands and saw a lot of stuff.”
Double Talkin’ Jive is available now. Signed copies and a limited-edition version that includes a vinyl LP featuring audio of Sorum narrating the book, accompanied by music played by him, can be purchased at RareBirdLit.com.
President Joe Biden appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! Wednesday night to discuss the recent string of mass shootings in the U.S., including one in Uvalde, Texas, which left 19 elementary school children and two teachers dead.
Kimmel asked the president why he couldn’t issue an executive order, noting that former president Donald Trump “passed those out like Halloween candy.”
Biden answered that he doesn’t want to “emulate Trump’s abuse of the constitution” by issuing many executive orders. “I have issued executive orders, within the power of the presidency, to be able to deal with these — everything having to do with guns, gun ownership — all the things within my power,” he explained. “But what I don’t want to do, and I’m not being facetious, is emulate Trump’s abuse of the constitution and constitutional authority.”
“I often get asked, well the Republicans don’t play it square, why do you play it square,” added Biden. “Well, guess what? If we do the same thing they do, our democracy will literally be in jeopardy.”
When Kimmel jokingly asked the president about his process for flushing documents down the toilet, Biden quipped, “I ask Trump.”
President Biden also touched on a number of other issues during the interview, including, Roe vs. Wade, inflation, the negative impact of the pandemic on families and mental health care.
The appearance was the president’s first in-studio appearance on a late night talk show since being inaugurated in January 2021. Biden last appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! in September 2019, in the midst of his campaign during the Democratic Party presidential primary. The president guested on NBC’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in December 2021, though he appeared via video. Biden has also appeared on CBS’ The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, most recently in September 2019.
